If you are new to fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) you may feel a bit intimidated by all of the stats, spells, and weapons that you have to keep track of. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a game that eases you into RPG gaming? Wizardlings is, sort of, the shallow end of the pool version of fantasy RPGs.

Players can choose to be a boy or girl wizard youngling. To start out, you will be sent to “Welcome Woodlot” where you will learn how to clear away the darkness, search for treasures, and defeat evil. Learn how to cast special spells, upgrade your armor and buy special ingredients for your spells.

This is basically a dungeon crawl. Think: Diablo, or even Avernum. What makes this game different is that it is very easy to understand. Players pick up loot, create spells and defeat bad guys. There is no heavy storyline to follow, no side quests to try to remember, and nothing else to do but shed light on the dark.

If you like dungeon crawl games, you will enjoy this. If you have never played a dungeon crawl game, this is easy to understand.

The goal of each section is to uncover all of the tiles on the board by casting a light spell. This will cost a few bits of energy, but that is replenished by five every 30 seconds. Most tiles uncover grass, trees, and flowers. Some will reveal a quest item that you can use in the future. Some tiles produce enemies that you can attack.

Luckily, the bad guys won’t attack you until you attack them. You can even walk away from a fight in mid-battle.

At first, players collect plenty of items to help them defeat enemies, but at about level eight, the enemy gets harder to defeat and spell ingredients become harder to find. Players can buy ingredients with special gems that they collect. The gems are even harder to come by than spell items. You can always buy more gems through in-app purchases. After the eighth level, you won’t be able to get far without in-app purchases. There are too many strong bad guys and too few magic items to find.

Overall, this is a simple, yet fun, RPG dungeon crawl. It is easy to play and has lots of mysteries to uncover. If you are looking for a game that is easy to play, check out Wizardlings.

What I liked: This game is lots of fun for younger players. However, it isn’t dumbed down or anything. Players of all ages will enjoy it.

What I didn’t like: Even though this is a free game, it is always a bummer when it becomes necessary to purchase items in order to continue playing. In this game, you don’t even have the option of just waiting until you get more gems. Once you’ve uncovered a tile, there is nothing more to discover.

To buy or not to buy: This is a free download, and worth it. You may find yourself up the creek without a paddle fairly quickly. If you don’t mind paying money for in-app purchases along the way, this game is lots of fun.